Malegaon (previously Mulligaum[2]) at the confluence of the Mausam (previously Moosy[2]) and Girna rivers.

On the road linking Mumbai and Agra — now national highway No 3 — it used to be a small junction known as Maliwadi (hamlet of gardens). It quickly gained the reputation for being a source of employment in 1740 when a local jahagirdar, Naro Shankar Raje Bahadur, started building a fort in the area. As the fort took 25 years, a sizeable number of Muslim workers and artisans from places like Surat and northern India settled in the area[citation needed].

After the British capture of the Malegaon fort in 1818, Muslims from Hyderabad migrated to the region. The 1857 revolt saw many Muslims from the north move here, and the pattern repeated over the years. Malegaon, with its growing Muslim presence, became something of a shelter and a source of employment for the community whenever it faced reversals. If famine in 1862 forced Muslim weavers in the Varanasi area to move to Malegaon, the political upheavals in the Hyderabad of the late 1940s and 1950s saw a similar exodus to the town. Communal riots, specially from the 1960s onward, have undoubtedly contributed to swelling the number of Muslim migrants to Malegaon[citation needed].

Malegaon is major hub for cloth weaving using early 20th century power looms. The era of power looms in Malegaon emerged after 1935. Malegaon was a traditional handloom-weaving centre in Maharashtra. Most of the preparatory work before weaving like starching the yarn, transferring it over the tubes, preparing tanabana was done by the women. Even after power looms were introduced, women continued to help the men in the weaving procedure[citation needed].

With the introduction of power looms, the cloth industry in Malegaon flourished due to increased productivity. Many people bought power looms and very few were left with handlooms. It has an estimated 3 lakh power looms producing about 1 crore (10 million) meters of cloth every day. It attracts workers from around India, majority of migrants from U.P., Khandesh and Deccan, due to lower cost of living and Muslim dominance[citation needed].

In recent times, the power loom industry is going through difficult phase due to factors like fluctuating government policies, frequent electricity outage, lack of political will, middleman at every stage, and reluctance to migrate to advanced machines.[4] Though it is still a major source of employment, most of workers struggle to make a living. As a result, the city has observed a change in migration pattern wherein the worker prefer to move to metros compared to Malegaon for better and stable job opportunities.

Malegaon of late has been diversifying and new industries are rapidly expanding. PVC pipe manufacturing is one such industry. Malegaon is soon becoming a regional centre for PVC pipes[citation needed].

As of 2011[update] India census,[5] Malegaon city had Urban/Metropolitan population of 576,642. Males constitute 51% of the population and females 49%. Malegaon has an average literacy rate of 87.61%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: Male literacy is 90.35%, and female literacy is 84.81%. About 18% of the population is under 6 years of age.

In Malegaon City Islam is the most popular religion with approximately 75.53% following it. Hindu 22.44% of the population following Hinduism as their religion. . In Malegaon city, Christianity is followed by 0.10%, Jainism by 0.82%, Buddhism by 1.42%, and Sikhism by 0.04%. Around 0.02% stated 'Other Religion' and approximately 0.15% stated 'No Particular Religion'. The exact numbers are as follows: Muslims 435,071, Hindu 101,108, Buddhist 10,463, Jain 5,622, Not Stated 725, Christian 806, Sikh 324, Others 273.
[6]

The vast city's education system has been able to support native language Marathi as well as English and Urdu through numerous institutions. There are enough schools for primary, secondary, and higher secondary education. There are junior colleges and senior colleges affiliated by Pune University. The students of Malegaon travel to nearby cities for higher education.

On 29 September 2008, three bombs exploded in the States of Gujarat and Maharashtra killing eight people and injuring 80. During the investigation in Maharashtra, a Hindu group was alleged to have been involved in the blasts[citation needed]. Three of the arrested suspects were identified as Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur,[7][8] Shiv Narayan Gopal Singh Kalsanghra, and Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu. All three were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court in Nashik, which remanded them to custody till 3 November.[9] On 28 October, the Shiv Sena, came out in support of the accused saying that the arrests were merely political in nature[citation needed]. Lending credence to this, the party chief, Uddhav Thackeray, pointed out a potential conflict of interest in political rivalry as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) controlled the relevant ministry.[10] The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has found no evidence against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and it has recommended the court to drop all charges against her.[11]

The Army officer Prasad Shrikant Purohit was also accused of being involved in the blast.[12] His counsel alleged that he was being falsely framed for political reasons because he has intelligence data of a sensitive nature pertaining to the operations of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, which could embarrass some quarters[citation needed] . He was sent on bail by the Supreme Court after nine years of trial on 21 August 21, 2017.

Malegaon's notoriously wacky film spoof industry has introduced many classic Hollywood and Bollywood characters to the satellite town of Malegaon by giving them its quintessential dialogue, looks, circumstances, and food. After having conquered local imagination with such cult spoofs as Malegaon ki Sholay, Malegaon ke Karan arjun, Malegaon ka James Bond and Supermen of Malegaon, the impoverished film-maker[who?] invaded national television with his second version of Malegaon Ka Chintu, Chintu ban gaya Gentleman, a mute comedy based loosely on Mr. Bean.

A crew named Sky View Pictures in Malegaon produce and make movies. They have made several short films like Dillage, Caller Tunes, The Lost Lover, and Independence. The crew is currently working on their next feature film.[13]

Mollywood artist work on daily wages. They earn a livelihood selling vegetables, working in the textile factories in Malegaon, or running eateries or tea stalls. In the credits their names reflect their professions, like Salim Electrician, Iqbal Chaiwala, badshah khan, or Zaheer Cyclewala. Since Mollywood films are not released all over India, they don't make much money. The urge to make the movies is almost always personal passion. Malegoan Ke Karan Arjun, for example, was made on a budget of Rs 50,000 and made around Rs 2.50 lakh.
In early days of Mollywood, local actors from Malegaon were excited to work in film with no fees. Later it was a trend that actors were not paid for the work. Owner of “ADD Films” production Atul Dusane was the first in Malegaon who started to pay actors, crew, and cast. Since then actors are being paid for the work[citation needed].

The male actors are locals, Some of the biggest stars, such as jainya, shafique chotu, badshah khan, ramzan shahrukh. but Malegaon's conservative society does not allow local women to act in films, so actresses are mostly from Jalgaon[citation needed].

Villages near Malegaon and towards Satana, Nampur and vadel are indulged into agriculture and major producers of onions. Pomegranate is another crop of commercial importance that is cultivated by farmers in nearby pockets. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of Malegaon has a front office at Malegaon and research farm at Vadel.[14] There is also a campus of Mahatma Gandhi Vidyamandir's H. H. Sri Sri Murlidhara Swamiji College of Agriculture in the Malegaon Camp area.[15]